Aurora, United States

Aurora

BACKGROUND

Aurora joined the Strong Cities Network in July 2016, building on rich experience in working to support a strong and cohesive community in which everybody has a stake. Situated near to Denver, Aurora is Colorado’s third largest city, with a council/manager government, which combines the political leadership of elected officials with the managerial expertise of an appointed local government manager. Aurora’s Comprehensive Strategic Plan emphasises the formation of liveable, full-service neighbourhoods in which each resident has a right to expect a safe city. Nearly 60% of the city’s general fund budget supports Aurora’s public safety functions.

In recognition of its local programming, Aurora was awarded the 2017 City Cultural Diversity Award by the National League of Cities. The award honours municipal programmes that encourage citizen involvement and cities that develop creative and effective programmes to improve and promote cultural diversity through a collaborative process with city officials, community leaders and residents.

NATIONAL OVERVIEW

Under the Obama Administration, the US approach to CVE at a local level was outlined in the 2011 White House report, Empowering Local Partners to Prevent Violent Extremism in the United States. With the central aim of supporting efforts to prevent radicalisation and recruitment and build community resilience across the US, this report outlines a Federal role in facilitating and supporting strong communities by fostering partnerships and dialogue between mayors and local governments, police departments, the private sector, local service providers, civil society, academia and others in a position to help prevent violent extremism and catalyse localised, bottom-up approaches. It recognises that local communities are uniquely positioned to carry out CVE, more reliably identifying specific issues and tailoring a community-orientated approach to their individual context and circumstances.

The Obama Administration continued to expand Federal support for local CVE efforts, hosting a three-day White House Summit on Countering Violent Extremism in 2015, bringing together Federal, local and international leaders to develop community-led approaches and ensure a proactive effort to counter online messaging and recruitment by extremist groups. See here for more on the 2015 White House Summit and related initiatives.

The Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security, and the National Counterterrorism Center also supported pilot local CVE programmes in the cities of Boston, Los Angeles and Minneapolis-St. Paul in 2015. More information on these pilots and other Federal CVE support can be found here.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) also launched a multi-agency CVE Task Force to support a whole-of-government approach to CVE, strengthen strategic planning and assess and evaluate CVE efforts. See here to read a copy of the 2016 DHS Homeland Security Advisory Council CVE Subcommittee report here, evaluating domestic CVE programming across the US.

LOCAL OVERVIEW

Much of Aurora’s CVE-relevant work falls within the remit of the Office for International and Immigrant Affairs, which takes a lead on integration and community cohesion, in cooperation with other municipal agencies, NGOs and CSOs. The many activities and programmes that fall within this remit reflect City Hall’s prioritisation of public safety, anti-polarisation, and efforts to ensure all newcomers to the city feel fully engaged in civil, economic and cultural life, and connected to local services. The city has developed a Comprehensive Strategic Plan, outlining their overall approach, and incorporating input from the local community. Updates on how the plan is progressing can be viewed here.

This organisational chart gives an overview of all the city departments and bodies involved in community building and integration:

Key Information

City

Aurora (Colorado)

Country

United States

Population

359,407

Local Political Leadership

Mayor Steve Hogan

KEY INITIATIVES

International Teen Police Academy

The International & Immigrant Teen Police Academy is hosted at the Aurora Welcome Center, in partnership with the Aurora Police Department. The International & Immigrant Teen Police Academy offers a series of introductory public safety training classes to young immigrants and refugees. It sits alongside Aurora’s other two police academies, the Citizens’ Police Academy and the Teen Policy Academy. It offers Aurora’s youth an opportunity to learn more and get involved in law enforcement, promoting career development in this sector. At its core, the academy enhances trust-building between the Police Department and the citizens of Aurora. For more on Aurora’s International Teen Police Academy, see our SCN case study.

Natural Helpers

The Natural Helpers programme was set up in collaboration with the Aurora Welcome Center to train volunteers from the local community to help Aurora’s immigrant community integrate into the city. Two rounds of training in 2016 have prepared more than 30 volunteers that were immigrants themselves, and who thus understand the struggle of moving to the US and ‘getting to know the system’. The ultimate purpose of the NH programme is to build social capitaland create a network of volunteers that support each other while helping others. For more on the Natural Helpers programme and the way it works, see our SCN Case Study.

ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES BY SECTOR

Community Engagement

The Aurora Welcome Center (AWC), established in 2008, is dedicated to empowering newcomers and making them aware of and connected to the resources and services available to them. The AWC offers classes, organises events and leads the Natural Helpers programme, all aimed at helping newcomers in the City of Aurora. The Welcome Center is involved in many of the city’s integration programmes and community outreach projects.

LOCAL POLITICAL LEADERSHIP

What We Do

Facilitate systematic sharing of knowledge, expertise and lessons learned on building social cohesion and community resilience to prevent violent extremism across cities on an international basis, through both regional workshops and international conferences.

Raise awareness of existing policy, programming, and practice through a dynamic and searchable ‘Online Information Hub’, providing an extensive library of existing local approaches and responses to prevent violent extremism.

Directly support cities to develop strategic frameworks and capabilities to build resilience that safeguard the rights of their local communities, including through capacity building seminars and interactive training modules on themes of mutual interest.

Directly seed the development of new and innovative projects through ‘Local Innovation Grants’, providing support for cities on innovative project development and support for the transfer of promising projects that could be adapted across different locations.

Directly support cities to develop strategic frameworks and capabilities to build resilience that safeguard the rights of their local communities, including through capacity building seminars and interactive training modules on themes of mutual interest.

Provide a global platform to enable cities to jointly voice their needs and those of their communities, to inform national and international decision-making on preventing the spread and growth of violent extremism.

Become a Strong City

The Strong Cities Network is designed for policy-makers and practitioners operating at city, municipal or sub-national level. Membership is completely free of charge.